vitrine · corridor · pairwise
1950s ↔ 1980s
Fact families the measure guard certifies comparable for this pair. Everything else renders as the gap it is. Every value links to its record.
A median home — affordability
A new car — affordability
1950s · Tier A
~$1,295 (average wholesale, computed from factory sales) ≈ 981 hours of work
1980s · Tier A
$7,557 ≈ 1,103 hours of work
Infant mortality
deaths under age 1 per 1,000 live births
Homeownership
% of occupied housing units owner-occupied
Average family size
persons per family
⚠ The 1900s datum (5.31) is from the 1901 BLS wage-earner survey — 0.7 persons above the Census 1900 national average of 4.61; the survey and census describe different populations.
⚠ The 1940s point is 1947 (first postwar CPS tabulation), not 1940. These averages describe family size, not the composition of a particular household or the cause of changes over time.
Complete plumbing
% of homes with complete plumbing
1950s · Tier A
64.5% of homes had complete plumbing (35.5% lacked)
1980s · Tier A
97.3% of homes had complete plumbing (2.7% lacked)
Household landline telephone
% of households
⚠ The 1900s source combines several technologies in one headline percentage, so its 5% is not plotted as a telephone datum.
⚠ 1910s–1930s sources counted telephones per 1,000 population, not households — those decades render as gaps rather than a unit splice.
1950s · Tier A
Telephone: 61.8% of households (280.9 per 1,000 population). Automobile: registration data available but not asked in 1950 Census.
1980s · Tier A
92.9% (7.1% without telephone)
Women's unpaid home production
hours per week, prime-age women
⚠ From 2010s onward the source is ATUS (all adults 15+, hrs/day, narrower 'household activities'), not Ramey (prime-age women 18-64, hrs/week, broader 'home production') — a concept splice. ATUS facts remain available in their rooms, but render as linked gaps on this weekly axis rather than as a false decline.
Men's unpaid home production
hours per week, prime-age men
⚠ From 2010s onward the source is ATUS (all adults 15+, hrs/day, narrower 'household activities'), not Ramey (prime-age men 18-64, hrs/week, broader 'home production') — a concept splice. ATUS facts remain available in their rooms, but render as linked gaps on this weekly axis rather than as a false rise or decline.
Food's share of spending
% of household expenditure
⚠ Populations differ across the century — 1901 wage-earner families vs modern consumer units; every placard names who was measured.
⚠ The 1950s point is the nearest available survey (CEX 1960–61), stated plainly rather than back-cast.
1950s · Tier A
Food $1,309/yr (24.3% of expenditure), housing $1,594 (29.6%), food away from home $274, local telephone $69/yr. Total expenditure: $5,393.
1980s · Tier A
Food $4,706/yr (15.0% of expenditure). Food at home $2,900 (62% of food), food away from home $1,806 (38%). Key items: meats/poultry/fish/eggs $832, cereals/bakery $410, dairy $404, fruits/vegetables $425, beef $290, fresh milk $202. Total expenditure: $31,408.
Consumer Price Index
CPI-U level, 1982–84 = 100
1950s · Tier A
24.1
1980s · Tier A
CPI 82.4 (1980) → 313.7 (2024) = 3.8x. $1 in 1980 = $3.81 in 2024. Real median family income grew 1.32x.
Number of families
families in the United States
⚠ CPS/F-8 counts all families (related persons living together). The 1940s point is 1947 — the first postwar CPS tabulation.
Heart disease mortality
age-adjusted deaths per 100,000
Median gross rent
USD/month, nominal (specified renter-occupied units)
⚠ Nominal dollars — the CPI arc and affordability dashboard provide deflation context. No 2010s or 2020s point: Census Historical Housing Tables end at 2000; ACS rent data (Table B25064) would extend the arc in a future curation pass.
Cigarettes consumed per adult
cigarettes per adult (18+) per year
⚠ Consumption (tax-derived), not prevalence. The chart's line ends 1994 where its table does: 1995-1999 have no table in the archived record, and 2000-2023 continue on the TTB-removals basis (series us-cigarettes-per-capita-ttb, a methodology splice) — those decades stay in the room placards rather than piling on this axis. 1993 provisional, 1994 projected.
1950s · Tier A
3,552 cigarettes per adult per year
1980s · Tier A
3,849 cigarettes per adult per year
Road deaths per 100 million vehicle-miles
deaths per 100 million vehicle-miles travelled
⚠ A rate, not a count. Absolute road deaths peaked at 55,600 in 1972 and were still near 41,000 in 2023; what fell by a factor of thirty is the aggregate death rate per mile travelled. It does not measure an individual traveller's risk.
⚠ FHWA's own footnote records a definitional change: from 1976 the count includes only people who died within 30 days of the crash. Earlier years were counted on a wider window, so the two halves of this line are not quite the same measurement.
⚠ The 1900 figure rests on 36 recorded deaths against an estimated 100 million vehicle-miles. It is published, not reconstructed, but the exposure behind it is very thin and the travel figure is a back-cast.
1950s · Tier A
7.24 deaths per 100 million vehicle-miles travelled
1980s · Tier A
3.35 deaths per 100 million vehicle-miles travelled
Births per 1,000 women aged 15-19
live births per 1,000 women aged 15-19
⚠ Not marked falling, because it does not only fall. The highest point in this selected-year table is 1960; that is not a claim about the annual historical peak. The selected points rise again between 1980 and 1990 before declining.
⚠ A rate over every woman aged 15 to 19, not over those who were sexually active. This age-specific rate does not establish marital status, sexual activity, or social approval.
⚠ The series is what NCHS prints: selected years, not annual, so the line connects published rows and the true peak between them is not shown. It begins in 1950 because the published table does; the museum's earlier rooms carry no card rather than an invented one.
1950s · Tier A
81.6 live births per 1,000 women aged 15-19
1980s · Tier A
53.0 live births per 1,000 women aged 15-19
Alcohol consumed per person
gallons of pure ethanol per person per year
⚠ Apparent consumption: legal beverage sales and shipments divided by population. The source table prints '(Prohibition)' instead of values for 1920-1933. That gap is not zero consumption or proof that no alcohol was sold; it is not interpolated and no estimate is substituted for it.
⚠ Not falling, on purpose. The line is a discontinuity, not a trend: the 1911-1915 level is not reached again until the 1970s, and the modern peak (2.76 in 1981) sits above every year since.
⚠ The 1900s and 1910s cards carry five-year ranges rather than single years, because that is how the table publishes the pre-1934 record; the annual series therefore begins at 1934.
⚠ The denominator changes at 1970, from population aged 15 and over to aged 14 and over. It is disclosed, not corrected for.
⚠ The table's own note records that data before 1977 are from Hyman et al. 1980 — the early half of this official series is republished scholarly work.